Solsken Designhttps://solskendesign.wordpress.com
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1 http://wordpress.com/https://s0.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngSolsken Designhttps://solskendesign.wordpress.com
Silence…https://solskendesign.wordpress.com/2014/12/12/silence/
https://solskendesign.wordpress.com/2014/12/12/silence/#respondFri, 12 Dec 2014 09:37:53 +0000http://solskendesign.wordpress.com/?p=372The silence of the past days has been due to some bad news I received last week. I’m almost up to speed again, but it threw me slightly off course for a while. Hope your Friday and weekend will be wonderful!
]]>https://solskendesign.wordpress.com/2014/12/12/silence/feed/0solskendesignBeautiful calligraphyhttps://solskendesign.wordpress.com/2014/12/04/beautiful-calligraphy/
https://solskendesign.wordpress.com/2014/12/04/beautiful-calligraphy/#respondThu, 04 Dec 2014 15:21:06 +0000http://solskendesign.wordpress.com/?p=369

Stunning typography by Barbara Calzolari as part of a TEDx event in Bologna earlier this year.

Thank you so much to everyone, who signed up for the Solsken Design newsletter! I’m putting the final touches on the first newsletter and it will drop into your inbox later this week.

The webshop is still under construction because I have decided to choose another layout theme for it, so there is a delay with a couple of days in going public with it.

In the meantime, the Etsy shop is open and currently we are celebrating Cyber Monday with 15% off all products.

Happy 1 December and have fun opening your Advent Calendar, if there is such a thing in your home!

]]>https://solskendesign.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/winner-of-silver-beehives/feed/0solskendesignNew social media buttons – A sort-of tutorialhttps://solskendesign.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/new-social-media-buttons-a-sort-of-tutorial/
https://solskendesign.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/new-social-media-buttons-a-sort-of-tutorial/#respondWed, 26 Nov 2014 22:31:47 +0000http://solskendesign.wordpress.com/?p=356 The blog just got new social media buttons. The colour is the Solsken Design signature grey and while I made them round at first, this theme makes a hovering effect under pictures. Even though the pictures were specifically made round (with this PicMonkey tutorial), the theme still added a square due to the hover effect. What a nuisance. At least I know how to make these buttons now, because I’ve made quite a few of them by now. It takes several steps, but isn’t horribly difficult and I’ve used the same method to add buttons to the side column before, so read along!

I started with a blank template, a grey circle, of the size 72×72 pixels. In PicMonkey, I then added the silhouettes (found here for free) as layers on top of the grey circle (with the help found in the same silhouette article). A tip is to upload the background picture only once, because after you’ve tweaked the silhouette to your liking – size, placement, and colour – you can save the button and then remove the silhouette only. Add the next one, tweak, save, and repeat. Finally I had six buttons 72×72 pixels large, so I resized them to 36×36 pixels. Once I noticed the white square underneath the grey button, I repeated all these steps with a grey 72×72 square.

Now the fun begins. I did exactly like in this video for WordPress blogs (Blogger blogs have their own video) until the stage of trying to center all the buttons at once. What happened wasn’t a neat row of buttons centered next to one another, but only the first one remained on the uppermost row with the rest jumping down a row.

Miraculously I clicked the same stuff, but with magic hands, and thereafter everything worked as it should. In the Text pane, you can see this opening code at the beginning, before the first a href thingy: <p style=”text-align:center;”> After all the button code, to close the centering code, there’s this: </p> Once I copy-pasted the whole text into a Text widget, all were aligned and centered. Neat.

Once you’ve uploaded media and added it to the post, all you have to do is click on the image edit button to see stuff viewer friendly, but it really pays off to look at the Text pane with its code, too. That’s how I learned how to open a linked page in a new window when clicking on a button. You need to add this: target=”_blank” But you won’t know where unless you compare what happens when checking versus leaving unchecked the box in the advanced image editing settings.

Also notice what happens when you add a link to the button, because if you leave it unlinked, it will show its own archiving URL on the WordPress server when a reader clicks on it and opens the image. That’s a bit silly, isn’t it.

It takes some time to learn these things, but it isn’t very difficult. If you can’t figure it out even after having watched the wonderful YouTube tutorial, ask a question in the comment and I’ll see if I can help you somehow.

]]>https://solskendesign.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/new-social-media-buttons-a-sort-of-tutorial/feed/0solskendesignSD New social media buttons 2014-11-26Giweaway reminderhttps://solskendesign.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/giweaway-reminder/
https://solskendesign.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/giweaway-reminder/#respondWed, 26 Nov 2014 14:22:35 +0000http://solskendesign.wordpress.com/?p=328Don’t forget to sign up for the Solsken Design newsletter by 30 November 24.00 (GMT+2) for a chance to win these Silver Beehive earrings! You can find the original blog post here.

Things have been quiet here due to illness, but as per Monday I’m back on track, working on the backlog of tasks to get done.

This includes sending out the coupon code to folks, who already signed up – apologies for the not-yet-appeared email!

Please help me launch the Solsken Design newsletter in style! The first newsletter is in the making and I want to arrange a giveaway for subscribers to celebrate this. Click on this link to go to the subscription form.

The Golden Beehive earrings, my signature earrings, are as popular as ever, but now I’m offering a pair of Silver Beehives to a lucky winner. They aren’t available in my shop yet, but will be later this year.

Make sure to sign up by 30 November 24.00 GMT+2 and I’ll announce the winner on 1 December, in time for the earrings to arrive before the holidays.

There is an Autumn Sale with 20% off on all products in the Solsken Design Etsy shop right now, so welcome to stop by! The website shop is under construction currently, but will be back up and running in a week’s time or so.

This is the optimal time to purchase holiday gifts, since Solsken Design is based in Helsinki, Finland, and shipping times during December month are tight. The usual cut-off date is around 2 or 3 December for international destinations outside of Europe, unless one chooses to live dangerously in hope that a shipment might arrive regardless of a later purchase date.

If it has been a while since you stopped by the shop last time, I have introduced some new products and more are being added constantly. Here is a pair of recently listed, glittery earrings perfect for the seasonal parties including New Year’s Eve festivities:

Solsken Design – Frozen Water earrings

I call them Frozen Water as they are absolutely stunning in person, and oh so challenging to capture with camera. You really have to see the rays of light dancing on and through them to know what I mean.

They have a nice length to them, too, seeing as they are nearly 5 cm or 2 inches tall. The jump ring I’ve chosen is slightly larger to compliment the round shape of the upper crystal and to give a touch of rough-chain feel, as well.

I’m breathing life into the Twitter and Facebook accounts again, so make sure to follow me there, as followers will have a chance to win a pair of earrings – which will arrive on time before Christmas of course :) But more about that later!

Life is unpredictable and I haven’t posted in quite some time. At the age of 30+ it’s still possible to say yes to too many things at once, so I’ve been trying to cut down where possible. The shop is open as usual, but social media have indeed suffered a bit.

Personal balance is close to my heart these days and I’ve just made this little quote thingy to remind myself of what is important. In November last year I twisted my ankle and hurt my knee pretty badly, which annoyingly put my running on hold. I had reached the last training of week 8 of couch-to-5K and found myself in a weird place, wanted to keep going but couldn’t. I’ve always been the academic type rather than the athletic and once my momentum was lost, months went by without decent cardio training.

In April, a few weeks ago, I had had enough. I laced my running shoes and started to work through the programme again. Weeks 4 and 5 are done and this weekend I’ll move on to week 6. While it is exhausting, I’m noticing an improvement in my sleeping patterns and also I’m more at peace with myself. I highly recommend couch-to-5K for beginners and gladly offer support, just shout out in the comments.

Aquamarine (Lat. aqua marina, water of the sea) is the March birthstone and a silicate mineral with the chemical formula Be3Al2(SiO3)6. All minerals of the beryl group consist of beryllium aluminium cyclosilicate and aquamarine is its turquoise or blue variety.

If this mineral has a very deep blue colour, you might find it called maxixe. The beryl minerals belong to the cyclosilicates, a sub-group of silicates, and as the name implies there’s a ring structure in the crystal.

The presence of iron ions alters the colour. Fe2+ ions cause a crystal to look pale blue, whereas Fe3+ make it yellow-golden. A combination of both ions produces a dark blue colour, maxixe. Sunlight or heat treatment lighten the mineral. Aquamarine is transparent and 7.5-8 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, with 7-10 being able to scratch the surface of glass, and 1-6 being damaged by a scratching knife along their surface. Diamond is the hardest at 10 and talc the softest at 1.

Aquamarines have been used in royal jewellery for hundreds of years and in the English crown there’s a 920-carat gem. Already at the end of 1300, the first pair of lenses was made from aquamarine for spectacles. The etymology of beryl is quite interesting and the German word for eyeglasses, Brille, might not be so illogical after all.

The crystals found in many locations around the world can become large and the heaviest one of gemstone quality found to date weighs 110.5 kg. The largest cut gem can be seen in the National Museum of Natural History, part of Smithsonian Institute.

Jewellery containing aquamarines can be cleaned quickly under running water. The gemstone is brittle so please treat it with care.

]]>https://solskendesign.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/aquamarine-march-birthstone/feed/0solskendesign342px-Aigue-marine_Pakistan_180308Spring means new beginningshttps://solskendesign.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/spring-means-new-beginnings/
https://solskendesign.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/spring-means-new-beginnings/#respondThu, 06 Mar 2014 13:56:33 +0000http://solskendesign.wordpress.com/?p=281Hello hello! Are you looking to get organised and decluttered? Here are some tips then:

I’ve heard great things about Project 333 and am intrigued enough to read blog articles on the website regarding creating a capsule wardrobe.

If cleaning is the natural word to put after Spring, look no further than my cleaning-themed Pinterest board. Personally I’m more into dealing with as I go, but there’s nothing quite like a home after a top-to-bottom cleaning frenzy.

Is your bank account screaming in dissatisfaction? A month-long project called 31 Days to Fix Your Finances might be the answer. It’s painfully thorough, but I’m never been quite as aware of my cash flow as after having finished my own project.

Since I’m a sucker for happy endings, make a cocktail or two! I’ve got you covered with yet another Pinterest board, Party | Drink. If you prefer something without alcohol, there’s Everyday | Drink, too.

Pinterest is causing mixed feelings in me and it is more meaningful to me when I can create the boards with someone else – you – in mind. All of the pins are there because they are pretty and/or useful, but many I will never use in my own everyday life.

They might inspire someone else, though, so I keep adding to each of my many boards whenever I think a pin is particularly nice in one way or the other. Happy Thursday!